The sage grouse is a stocky bird with a long spiky tail and feathers to its toes. It’s well known for its courtship theatrics – the male inflates yellow sacs on his chest while his tail splays out like a handheld fan.
According to a report by the U.S. Geological Survey, the future of the sage grouse is in jeopardy. Scientists say if increasingly destructive wildfires in the Great Basin can’t be stopped, the sage grouse population will be cut in half over the next three decades.
The U.S. Fish and Wild Life Service were court-ordered to decide whether to add the bird to its endangered species list by September 30. It’s a decision that comes with a hefty price tag.
Those In Favor of Saving the Sage Grouse
“The sagebrush steppe and sage ecosystem are in trouble,” said Matt Brooks, a fire ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and one of the report’s authors.
Scientists provided strategies to further prevent sage grouse declines by determining which areas call for greater protection. In the report, focus was placed on the management of cheatgrass, an invasive species that can create extreme wildfire hazards. Cautionary steps have already been taken to prevent wildfire destruction of the habitat. “It adds to the science that managers, and especially fire managers, can use,” said John Freemuth, a Boise State University professor and public lands expert.
The sage grouse lives among 400 other species in the sagebrush steppe. Scientists use the bird as a sign of the overall health of sagebrush, which ranges across 11 Western states up through Canada.
“It’s so much beyond a bird,” Freemuth said of the potential listing. “It’s people’s lifestyle. It’s people’s recreational opportunities. It’s everything. The bird is just the symbol of all that.”
The Sage Grouse, A $5.6 billion Investment?
The proposal to add the sage grouse to the endangered species list has been met with opposition, mostly from pro business who view it as an economic blockade. It would mean shutting down large areas of land for other uses in 11 states. A study from 2013 projects that declaring the sage grouse as endangered would cost the U.S. more than $5.6 billion in annual economic output. Economies is western states would be hit hardest.
Joel Bousman, a Wyoming rancher and a Sublette County commissioner said to NPR, “When they listed the spotted owl in the Northwest, it literally devastated the counties and communities” whose economies depended on timber.
We’ll have to wait until September 30th to see how saga of the sage grouse ends. Let’s hope a middle ground can be reached where the environment and businesses can work together to find a solution that protects the land while benefiting the animals and humans it supports.
